by Marc Stevens
I stood up and unloaded with the beam weapon as fast as it could cycle. Klutch knew it would be pointless trying to appeal to my current mindset, so he did the same. We reduced everything to the front of us to glowing slag. When my weapon finally overheated and shut down to cool, we could see stars peering back at us through the carnage. For a moment it was eerily still, then we felt thumping vibrations and they were close and to the right of our position.
Coonts came over the comms. “Commander, the hangar door is down and I am standing by for extraction operations. Justice has warned me to move away to a safe distance. He says you are destroying the outpost with your beam weapon. Do you need assistance?”
It was a pretty ballsy request on Coonts part because he knew the Oolaran in me was responsible for what was happening. I was glad when Klutch spoke up and called him off. I was trying my best to calm the wicked bastard that was possessing me. Klutch gave me a hard rap on the shoulder to get my attention.
“Commander, we need to press the attack, the enemy has retreated and is now attacking the Operative. We have them trapped between us, you must not use your beam weapon.”
To emphasize his point, he stepped in front of me and grabbed my shoulders. He pulled me down to his visor and cleared it. “Commander, we must use caution so we did not cause harm to the Operative and her troops.”
I cleared my visor to let him know I was indeed back in control. I shoved the demon aside and forced the grimace on my face into a small smile. I unclipped my high-tech scatter gun from the side of my backpack and charged the barrels.
“Lead the way, Troop Master.”
That comment got me a toothy smile and he rapped me again on the shoulder. “Let’s go kill some Throggs, Commander!”
We had only gone a couple of dozen strides and to our front there was an alien I did not recognize. He had just fired his weapon and turned in our direction. Klutch made sure I would never get a chance at recognizing whatever race it was. He unloaded a twelve-round clip of explosive buckshot into it from about thirty feet. We charged past the mess and turned the corner. Standing very close in front of me was a Scrun wearing the power armor we had examined earlier. I gave him three quick double taps with the penetrator slugs before the suit threw in the towel on its job of protecting the Throgg wearing it. My two follow-up shots burst the suit like a water balloon.
I was surprising myself at my ability to hold the beast in check. I could feel it egging me on, and the thought of giving the enemy hell with my beam weapon was very much on my mind, but I felt like I was the one in control. I didn’t know if the Operative knew we were in the enemy’s flank or not, but if she suspected it, Klutch and I could not tell. The Chaalt troopers were pouring non-stop fire and explosives into the area directly to our front. Klutch pulled a grenade out and held it up to me. I followed suit and we tossed them behind the enemy troops and stepped back into the corridor. The twin blasts bowed the corridor wall inward and some of the overhead piping and structural supports collapsed onto us. Shoving the debris aside we peeked back around the corner. A large number of the combatants were sprawled on the floor and several still moving. Klutch stepped out with his minigun and gave anything moving a dose of sucks-to-be-you.
The sight of Klutch and me standing in the enemy’s rear, hosing them down, managed to get the Operative and her strike team to cease fire. The surviving enemy soldiers finally figured out what had befallen their comrades. They threw down their weapons and slowly stood with their hands out in front of them.
The Operative called to us over our Backscatter Transmitters. “Nathan, you and Klutch should make sure our extraction point is secure.”
I was a little confused at first and was going to say we would help her round everyone up. Klutch’s visor cleared and he jerked his head in the direction of the hangar. He turned and headed for the corridor. I started to say something to the Operative but she cut me off.
“NOW NATHAN!”
Without another word I turned and headed back the way we came. I called to Coonts. “Coonts, do you have enough room to set Eagle Two down in the hangar?”
“Affirmative Commander, I am on my way, ETA thirty seconds.”
The trip back to the hangar gave me a little time to think clearly. I opened a secure Backscatter channel to Tria. “Tria, I thought you were going to be our pilot on this mission.”
When I did not get a return answer, I became a little concerned. Was she mad at me for something I had done or was it something else? I caught up with Klutch.
“You have done well controlling your inner demon, Commander. With time I think you will be rid of the ill effects of the Oolaran imprinting.”
I cleared my visor and gave the Tibor a smile and clasped him on the shoulder. “I could not have done it without the help from my friends.”
When we got back to the hangar, Eagle Two had landed just inside of the mangled doors. The cargo ramp came down and I was surprised to see Tria standing there in her recon armor. She debarked and walked toward me. She had blood on her hands and the front of her armor. Klutch stepped away without comment and boarded the shuttle. Tria stood in front of me. I guess she thought I was going to chastise her because she did not say a word. I glanced into the shuttle’s hold and could not see the Murlak prisoners. It did not take a genius to figure out the rest of the story. Rather than ask a bunch of awkward questions, I cut to the chase.
“Were you able to get Eiger’s location?”
“A vague location on the fringe.”
The finality of her comment, left no doubt as to the validity of the statement. The method she chose to gain that information must have caused her great discomfort. I knew it would take a week or more before the ill effects of her weaponization were completely healed.
Justice called on my comms net. “Commander, the Operative’s flagship has moved into close proximity with the outpost. I believe they will use their transporter technology for extraction.”
“OK, Justice. We will be ready to depart when they have cleared the area.”
As if on cue, the Operative called me on the Backscatter transmitter. “Nathan, now that hostilities have ceased we will no longer require your services for extraction. We have taken select hostile personnel for interrogation and will debrief you on our findings. I have obtained coordinates for a star system that I recommend we meet at. I believe you will be familiar with the location.”
The transmission promptly ended. The Operative’s statement verified my belief that she took high ranking prisoners and killed the rest for retribution. I took Tria by the hand and we boarded the shuttle. Coonts closed the hatch and restored atmosphere in the hold. We launched from the outpost and quickly rendezvoused with the Legacy. Justice took us aboard with the tow beam and we headed for the disabled shuttle. Klutch was reloading the ordnance he had expended on the outpost. When he saw me looking, he gave me a thumbs-up. His armor looked like it had been chewed on and spit out. The scarring and pockmarks from our battle made the new armor look years old.
I stepped over to our makeshift armor rack and stepped out of my armor. There was only a small piece of the needle guns mount remaining on the armor’s left arm; the rest of the weapon was missing. The tube launcher wasn’t all that bad, but the magazine feed was severed. I am sure Justice had taken note of our battle damage and would recommend upgrades to Felix when we returned to Alpha Base. Judging by the amount of hits I had taken from enemy fire and flying shrapnel, the armor performed flawlessly. A great deal of the hits had gone unnoticed in combat. It was a testimony to the amazing strength and rigidity of the design. I would also recommend increasing the amount of onboard ammo for the minigun. With the exception of the Zaen battle armor, none of the other enemy armor suits withstood the torrent of explosive fire from the weapon.
28
Tria changed out of her recon armor and now wore her smart cloth uniform. I was not going to ask when Justice had loaded her light armor onto the shuttle. There was a good chance I would ge
t stonewalled by some obscure answer or excuse. I was, however, going to ask her about the interrogation of the prisoners and the information they divulged before their apparent demise. Before I could corner Tria on the subject, Coonts ran up to me.
“Commander, now that Tria is available to pilot the shuttle, I request permission to join you on the boarding mission.”
The little Grawl was fidgeting and had an expectant look on his face. I could not chastise him for his collusion with Tria’s disregard of my orders to pilot the shuttle. I knew how hard it could be refusing the Chaalt warrior her way. The best way to have a word with Tria would be to let the Grawl and Tibor handle the boarding and I would stay behind.
“Carry on, Coonts. You and Klutch can do the boarding, and I will wait for your report when you return.”
That put a smile on the Grawl’s face. He went to get geared up and I turned back to Tria. She made sure she got the first words in before I could chew on her ass for ignoring our agreement.
“They were personally responsible for my some of my injuries. I returned their kindness. I have heard you use the expression ‘tit for tat’ — that is what I did.”
“Since they are not here to question, I take it you threw them out the airlock?”
“Once they gave me what useful information they had, I gave them a choice, something, I might add, they did not give me while trying to beat me to death.”
“And?”
“They took the less painful choice.”
There was not much I could say to that. I instead decided this was as good a time as any for a debriefing and asked what she had gained.
“Other than the supposed location of Eiger, the only intelligence of note was that one of the Scrun teams assigned with the task of killing us was stationed here recently. It is my understanding they killed a large number of the inhabitants of the outpost. When the Murlak asked them why they did so, the Scrun claimed it was the best way to develop attack strategies while biding their time on the outpost.”
“I appreciate their spirit of cooperation. I hope to personally thank them in the near future.”
By the sour look on Tria’s face, the nuance of my sarcasm was lost on her. “You can thank the Scrun right after we kill them.”
Justice interrupted our testy exchange. “Commander, the Operative has sent a data package. The data contains coordinates to a star system that closely matches the location given to Tria during her interrogation of the Murlak prisoners.”
Now we were getting somewhere. To have corroborating information from two different sources was a step in the right direction. It was enough to warrant an investigation of the location.
“Thank you, Justice. Please send the Operative the information Tria collected.”
“Roger, Commander, message sent.”
It was less than five minutes before I heard a secure tone on my BS transmitter.
“Nathan, while there is always the possibility the hostiles concocted a mutually beneficial story, I doubt that is the case. I obtained my information from the Murlak and one of the higher ranking Scrun. The Scrun also admitted to being a part of a team to terminate you and your crew.”
“Did you get anything on the Scrun base we found?”
“Yes, I have certain reservations about the information, but it is still interesting enough to pass on. The Scrun stated that one of King Lashmos’s heirs is in charge of the base and it is indeed a major slave processing center.”
“Even if the information is not completely credible, I still plan on striking the base and freeing any slaves we might find.”
“You can count me in, Nathan. That is one foray I plan to attend.”
“I am sure you have not forgotten about the derelict ship. You and your crew have certainly earned the right to be some of the first boots aboard when we have finished cleaning up our more pressing matters.”
“I am counting on that as well, Nathan. For now, we should continue prosecuting the most time-sensitive intel as soon as we finish matters here.”
“I thought we were finished here?”
“You might be, but I am not. Get clear of the—Nathan! We are detecting a transition wave, now three transition waves. Prepare to engage if they are hostiles! Wait for my attack and clean up any stragglers!”
“Commander, I have four ships of a similar design to Scrun motherships. They are heavily armed and their shields have just come online. They are broad spectrum scanning at full military power. The Legacy is still in stealth mode and they have not detected us. I have a hard lock on the Operatives flagship and it has not been detected.”
“Can we keep track of Sael’s ship?”
“I have accumulated considerable knowledge on the Chaalt negation and cloaking technologies. I will develop a tracking algorithm to keep us alerted to Chaalt ship movements and surveillance technics.”
It was nice knowing that Justice soaked up and processed even the most obscure information. He was truly a data sponge that never missed a trick.
“Roger that, Justice. When the Operative starts the party, let’s make sure no one gets to leave early.”
“Commander, the probability for collateral damage is high if the Scrun ships are carrying slaves. It will be extremely difficult to attempt to disable the warships without destroying them. I further postulate the Senior Operative has no intention of boarding any of the vessels.”
“I understand, Justice. Keep us out of the Operative’s missile envelope and take us in behind the enemy ships. If Sael does not take them out in the initial attack, we will hit them from the rear and divide their return fire.”
“Roger, Commander. Moving now.”
Coonts and Klutch looked pissed their boarding operation would be put on hold. I called to them. “Keep your gear on. Knowing the Operative, I don’t think the battle will last long. I headed to the lifts so I could watch the battle in real time on the bridge view dome. Tria followed, and as we made the ascent to the bridge deck, she pulled me close and kissed me.
“I hope I did not anger you by interrogating the prisoners. It was not my intention to purposely ignore my agreement to pilot the shuttle. Coonts volunteered to fly the mission and it left me time for physical therapy.”
It was a lame excuse at best, and I really did kind of wonder whether or not Coonts had something to do with Tria’s little scheme. Now I knew for a fact he did. This was not the first time the little Grawl had pulled such stunts. As we stepped out of the lift tube, Justice alerted us the battle had begun.
“Commander I have detected minute distortion waves propagating from the location of the Senior Operative’s flagship. They match stealth missile transition signatures I previously recorded during the Quill engagement. The count now totals eight.”
“Roger that Justice, be prepared to launch a follow up strike if necessary.”
“Affirmative, all tubes loaded and weapons are in standby mode.”
Justice moved the Legacy to a point in space that was thirty degrees off of the Operative’s reciprocal targeting datum. The Scrun ships were rapidly closing with the decrepit outpost and were evidently oblivious to our presence. Justice gave us another alert.
“Commander, I just detected a much larger transition propagation wave from the Operative’s location. I believe it is a much larger weapon launch, possibly a torpedo class weapon. There is a possibility the launch will be detected.”
I was wondering what the hell Sael was up to and what kind of weapon she was going to use on the Scrun. Justice called out again.
“The Operative’s flagship is maneuvering and two of the Scrun ships have turned in the direction the Chaalt ship has vacated. I have multiple hostile missile launches. All weapons have failed to track the Chaalt vessel and appear to be in search mode.”
Justice put red boxes around the Scrun ships and displayed their missile tracks with red lines. I was just starting to wonder when the Operative’s first strike package was going to appear when all four of the hostile ships to
ok hits. The first hits failed to penetrate the enemy shields but the second round took them down. The Operative had been closing the distance with the Scrun and now opened up with her energy weapons. The two targets that had turned to attack were pierced by the Chaalt weapons blowing thru both sides of the hostile ships. The other two targets looked like they were attempting to maneuver behind the outpost when it disappeared in huge white flash. One of the enemy ships was crushed by the expanding debris. The other sustained heavy damage and was in a spinning drift that left no doubt it received a fatal blow. Justice closed with the drifting ship and we got a close-up view of the damage. There was a large piece of the outpost rammed thru the side of the Scrun vessel. The momentum of the high velocity spin put an end to the ship as it broke in half.
It might have taken Sael all of five minutes to completely clear the battlespace of targets. The missiles the Scrun ships had fired never got a target lock and were circling in ever bigger loops farther and farther from the target area. I thought I would hear something from Sael, but Justice alerted us she jumped out of the system.
Tria looked over at me. “It is why they used to call her Kala Mor Dee. She has always been very efficient when it comes to killing our enemies.”
That was an understatement. Sael had just sent thousands of one of the most hated races in the galaxy on a fast track to hell. I suspected she had every intention of doing away with the outpost just before the Scrun showed up. It was time to see who and what was aboard the disabled shuttle. I could see the small blinking yellow box high up on the view dome. In the blink of an eye it filled the screen. Tria joined me and we made our way back to the hangar to await a report from Coonts and Klutch.
Justice directed a comms burst at the shuttle in the Scrun and Murlak dialects, then threw in a mishmash of others, including Galactic Union standard. He warned that any resistance would be fatal and to send all of their weapons and armor out the airlock. He attached a countdown timer to the ultimatum, when it reached seven, the airlock on the shuttle opened and several Scrun weapons mixed with a couple of Murlak sidearms floated out of the hatch.
